This morning I had a friend write and say she was offended by what I said about divorce, and it took me off guard because I wasn’t sure what I had said. So she pointed me to a post … and I read the post … and for the life of me couldn’t figure out what “I” was saying. Instead, as I told her, I was summarizing what an author had written and not really giving my point of view at all. “We’re good then,” she said.
Which made me think that I should perhaps remind readers again of the stance I take on posts. Most of the time, at least almost always when I’m summarizing a book, I try to get inside the skin of an author and present his or her views without evaluating everything said — as in “Here’s what she said” but “this is what I think.” Instead, I try to present the author’s view as positively as possible and assume you will know that I’m not talking about what I think.
This “inside the skin” stance sometimes frustrates you (if you are wondering what I think), and sometimes frustrates me (because sometimes I’d like to say what I think), but it’s an educational strategy I have learned from teaching. Present the argument, don’t always reveal what you think, and let the argument determine the conversation. I think this strategy creates better and more conversation.
I have found that when I give my view on the blog that it become more “reader vs. blogger” debate instead of “here’s what I the reader think of that argument.”
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